Petition Sent Back (Payment Issue?)

[Isabel&Will 112]

Hey guys, 
Our packet was sent back to us with a rejection notice because our "payment amount is incorrect or has not been provided", with the cheque we sent still in the original envelope but with the rest of our petition and evidence on the outside. We're trying to figure out if something is wrong with the cheque or if it had fallen to the bottom of our envelope and was missed (the envelope was folded in a way that suggests they didn't know a cheque was in there). The payment is the correct amount ($535USD), made out to the correct party (U.S. Department of Homeland Security), and is not expired (and will not expire for another 150 days or so). However, it is a "Teller's Check" and it seems that there may be some technicalities in regards to "Cashier's Check" vs "Teller's Check"... however, when my fiance asked the bank for a cashiers check, this is what was sent to us and I can't really figure out if there is any difference. We chose not to send a money order because our previous petition went MIA and we were unable to recover that money.

I also have a second question in regards to updating information at this stage—all of our pages were stamped, so I feel that we should not alter the information in any way. However, my job history has changed since we sent the petition in so I'm wondering if I should update it now or wait until the interview.

My fiance is planning to send the whole thing back tomorrow, as is, with the cheque double paperclipped to the front of the petition. 😣Any guidance would be greatly appreciated so that we don't waste more time than we already have...

[MeghanK 625]

Your teller's check was from a U.S. bank, physically in the U.S., yes? 

[Isabel&Will 112]

8 minutes ago, MeghanK said:

Your teller's check was from a U.S. bank, physically in the U.S., yes? 

Yes—it is from USAA Federal Savings Bank

[MeghanK 625]

Hmmm strange and frustrating. Sorry you're dealing with this. I can't think of anything other than they somehow didn't see it then. If you are worried about "cashier" vs "teller" maybe give a call to the bank to discuss it. It doesn't seem like that would be the issue, but who knows with USCIS.

 

The only other thing I could think of (and this is purely just speculating) is did you order this check from online? I don't know if that would make a difference vs. being issued a check from a physical location and from an actual human. Might be worth some searching here to see if anyone has had a similar issue before, either with a teller's check or a USAA check. 

 

I assume your fiance doesn't have personal checks at the moment since you went cashier's? It also might be worth it to order personal checks, and then send in the fee with one of those. 

 

Also as for updating your job info, I'd leave as is since it is all still true under the date you signed it was true 🙂

[JMEngland 438]

My guess is that they completely missed the check. How long did it take for you to receive the packet back in the mail? I sent mine in 2 weeks ago and still haven't received anything. I have USAA also, but I sent the electronic credit card form for a Chase card and a USAA check as secondary with a note saying if the card couldn't be processed for some reason then to use the check. Two weeks later though and neither has been charged. 

[Isabel&Will 112]

6 hours ago, MeghanK said:

Hmmm strange and frustrating. Sorry you're dealing with this. I can't think of anything other than they somehow didn't see it then. If you are worried about "cashier" vs "teller" maybe give a call to the bank to discuss it. It doesn't seem like that would be the issue, but who knows with USCIS.

 

The only other thing I could think of (and this is purely just speculating) is did you order this check from online? I don't know if that would make a difference vs. being issued a check from a physical location and from an actual human. Might be worth some searching here to see if anyone has had a similar issue before, either with a teller's check or a USAA check. 

 

I assume your fiance doesn't have personal checks at the moment since you went cashier's? It also might be worth it to order personal checks, and then send in the fee with one of those. 

 

Also as for updating your job info, I'd leave as is since it is all still true under the date you signed it was true 🙂

Thank you, to be honest I've been a bit worried that the petition may have gotten lost in the mail again since it took us a month to get this notice, so I'm thankful that we don't have to start completely from scratch, but it's still a huge frustration...

Your speculation may be a possibility. He had to call in to order the cheque because—as far as I understand—USAA has closed down most of its physical locations so it's mainly online banking/phone now. It's a bit of a strange setup so it may be possible, though I haven't really been able to find anything that specifically sets USAA or similar banking systems as different or not accepted. He has never really needed to use cheques for anything, so we thought this would be sufficient as a one-off situation. However, at this point since it will probably take him a while to get personal cheques we may just resend the thing again and if it comes back he'll have personal cheques to use I suppose...😣

And as for the job thing, thank you, you are correct about that—I didn't even think about it that way, haha
 

Just now, JMEngland said:

My guess is that they completely missed the check. How long did it take for you to receive the packet back in the mail? I sent mine in 2 weeks ago and still haven't received anything. I have USAA also, but I sent the electronic credit card form for a Chase card and a USAA check as secondary with a note saying if the card couldn't be processed for some reason then to use the check. Two weeks later though and neither has been charged. 

 

It took us a month and a day from the date of sending (July 16) to receiving our petition back with the notice (August 17). My fiance included the G-1145 (Notification of Acceptance of Application/Petition) but he did not receive a text or email notification. The only way we knew they had it is because our package tracking showed that it had been delivered on July 30 (however, the notice we received with our petition had the date of receipt at July 27 so I'm not sure which is the correct date). Either way, it took around 2 weeks to get there so there's still a chance it may not have arrived yet/just arrived there depending on what sort of mailing services you used.

[JMEngland 438]

33 minutes ago, Isabel&Will said:

Thank you, to be honest I've been a bit worried that the petition may have gotten lost in the mail again since it took us a month to get this notice, so I'm thankful that we don't have to start completely from scratch, but it's still a huge frustration...

Your speculation may be a possibility. He had to call in to order the cheque because—as far as I understand—USAA has closed down most of its physical locations so it's mainly online banking/phone now. It's a bit of a strange setup so it may be possible, though I haven't really been able to find anything that specifically sets USAA or similar banking systems as different or not accepted. He has never really needed to use cheques for anything, so we thought this would be sufficient as a one-off situation. However, at this point since it will probably take him a while to get personal cheques we may just resend the thing again and if it comes back he'll have personal cheques to use I suppose...😣

And as for the job thing, thank you, you are correct about that—I didn't even think about it that way, haha
 

It took us a month and a day from the date of sending (July 16) to receiving our petition back with the notice (August 17). My fiance included the G-1145 (Notification of Acceptance of Application/Petition) but he did not receive a text or email notification. The only way we knew they had it is because our package tracking showed that it had been delivered on July 30 (however, the notice we received with our petition had the date of receipt at July 27 so I'm not sure which is the correct date). Either way, it took around 2 weeks to get there so there's still a chance it may not have arrived yet/just arrived there depending on what sort of mailing services you used.

I used USPS. the tracking shows it was delivered on the 6th at the lockbox, so that was 2 weeks ago today. I was looking at the g-1450 form just now to verify I put the correct credit card information, which I did, but I noticed that it has the space to hand sign the form and I can't remember if I did that. I would hope that if I didn't that they would have just used the personal check that I had included as the secondary form of payment, but at this point I'm pretty sure our packet is on the way back. 

[Shiran 1,134]

From https://www.uscis.gov/forms-filing-tips they suggest way to package things is to clip the cheque or money order to the very top of the packet. I would suggest using paper clip (not staple) 

 

It does sound like they just missed your cheque, I doubt teller's vs cashier's made a difference. For reference though I just paid with personal cheque from US bank, and they cashed it (via a draft) This is how it showed up on my bank statement "BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH USCIS DALLAS PAYMENT"

Edited August 20, 2018 by Shiran

[Isabel&Will 112]

3 hours ago, Shiran said:

From https://www.uscis.gov/forms-filing-tips they suggest way to package things is to clip the cheque or money order to the very top of the packet. I would suggest using paper clip (not staple) 

 

It does sound like they just missed your cheque, I doubt teller's vs cashier's made a difference. For reference though I just paid with personal cheque from US bank, and they cashed it (via a draft) This is how it showed up on my bank statement "BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ACH USCIS DALLAS PAYMENT"

Thank you, yeah my fiance paperclipped the top and side of the cheque to the front of the petition so hopefully it'll work this time. If it ends up getting sent back again I suppose we'll know then that it's the cheque and figure things out from there

Edited August 20, 2018 by Isabel&Will

[Paul & Mallory 1,398]

Based on what you've shared, my guess is they missed it. We secured our cashier's check on the top of everything else in our packet - no envelope or anything - so it would be the first thing they saw once reviewing our packet. I would send it back with the check secured on front (clipped with paper clip or binder clip, not stapled). I don't think there is any difference in a Teller's Check versus Cashier's Check.

[Sugarlegetiti 566]

3 hours ago, Isabel&Will said:

Thank you, yeah my fiance paperclipped the top and side of the cheque to the front of the petition so hopefully it'll work this time. If it ends up getting sent back again I suppose we'll know then that it's the cheque and figure things out from there

Now you should be fine, you can not put a check in an envelope for USCIS 

[Isabel&Will 112]

25 minutes ago, Sugarlegetiti said:

Now you should be fine, you can not put a check in an envelope for USCIS 

Just to clarify, we did not put the cheque in its own envelope, the envelope I was referring to was the original one we sent our entire petition in with. They included it in the new envelope they sent back to us with the rest of our petition, but the cheque was left inside of the old envelope, while everything else was taken out.

[Sugarlegetiti 566]

15 minutes ago, Isabel&Will said:

Just to clarify, we did not put the cheque in its own envelope, the envelope I was referring to was the original one we sent our entire petition in with. They included it in the new envelope they sent back to us with the rest of our petition, but the cheque was left inside of the old envelope, while everything else was taken out.

Ok, so USCIS rep just missed your check. Now the way your spouse has done it there is no way it will be missed. Thanks for clarifying 

[Isabel&Will 112]

9 minutes ago, Sugarlegetiti said:

Ok, so USCIS rep just missed your check. Now the way your spouse has done it there is no way it will be missed. Thanks for clarifying 

I hope so, thanks for the advice! 😊

[Sugarlegetiti 566]

3 minutes ago, Isabel&Will said:

I hope so, thanks for the advice! 😊

You are welcome 😃